Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the head of the President's Office, told about this at the telethon.
"We have official figures from the General Staff and they indicate that from 10,000 to 12,000-13,000 defenders of Ukraine died. And we openly talk about it. Of course, we have more losses due to wounded soldiers, and this is understandable considering the scale of shelling," the official said.
He emphasized that the situation with losses among civilians is completely different.
"The figure of 20,000 announced here may be significantly higher. And we are talking about it on all platforms. Russia is not fighting on the battlefield, where it will definitely lose, but is fighting with the civilian population, especially in the occupied territories. This is evidenced by the large number of mass burials and executions," Podolyak added.
And the most important thing, as emphasized by the representative of the President's Office, is that Russia told its military that, having entered the territory of Ukraine, they can do whatever they want, they just have to establish an occupation regime here:
"They were allowed to kill, torture, rape, rob - the entire command turns a blind eye. And this managed to attract a large number of thugs, whose actions we see in Ukraine."